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Virat Kohli may have retired from Test cricket, but his captaincy days are still fresh for Indian cricket fans. Recently, Virat Kohli recalled some of the great days of his international career during IPL 2026, where he was in great form with the bat for RCB.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have almost secured a place in the IPL 2026 playoffs and Kohli has played a key role in it by scoring more than 400 runs. After making it clear that he aims to play in the 2027 ODI World Cup, the right-hander went back to his Test captaincy days.
Virat Kohli gets emotional remembering India’s golden test era
Speaking on the latest RCB Podcast, Virat Kohli opened up about the dressing room environment of the Indian cricket team during his Test captaincy and how that young team gradually became one of the strongest teams in the world.
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Kohli looked emotional while talking about those years and admitted that leading India in Test cricket for so long will always be one of the greatest achievements of his life.
Virat Kohli said on the podcast, “Really, I’ve looked back at the time I’ve been able to play Test cricket for so long and, you know, the opportunity and to lead India for so long, you know, some amazing wins and a golden era in our Test journey. You know, a group of youngsters who always wanted to play Test cricket for India while having the opportunity of their lives as a young group.”
Virat Kohli reveals the secret of India’s Test dominance!
Meanwhile, the 37-year-old also reflected on how a group of young cricketers together changed the face of Indian Test cricket. The former Indian captain said that the biggest strength of that Indian cricket team was the strong bond between the players.
Kohli pointed out that there was hardly any big age difference between the core group of players like Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja. Since everyone was almost of the same generation, there was no senior-junior atmosphere inside the dressing room and every player played his responsibility.
He explained that every player feels personally responsible for making the team better and that mentality gradually turned India into a dangerous team both domestically and overseas. And Kohli felt that this was the biggest reason behind India’s success in Test cricket during that period.
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The RCB icon further added, “We were like a group of friends. So, what happened was, well, I was leading, and the management, you know, was taking the team forward in a certain way, but the most important thing was that because of the average age of the group, everyone felt like they had responsibilities and ownership.”
Virat Kohli shares the untold story behind India’s historic Test success abroad
India achieved many historic moments under the captaincy of Kohli. The biggest opportunity came during the 2018–19 season when India won a Test series in Australia for the first time. Kohli also became the Asian captain with the most Test wins in countries like South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia.
His captaincy changed the entire course of Indian cricket abroad. India started fighting aggressively in every situation. Kohli’s strong focus on fitness also completely changed the entire culture within the Indian team. He played fearless cricket, dominated overseas and adopted an aggressive approach that completely changed the identity of the team in world cricket.
Kohli said, “It wasn’t like, yes, these guys will take care of the team and, you know, we have nothing to do with it. It was like, OK, we are young, we want to make this, you know, team for the next six, seven, eight years. What can I do to make the team better? So people started asking themselves questions.”